From Interstate 8 - Take 8 to the Mission Gorge/Fairmount exit. Turn north onto Mission Gorge Road. Continue down Mission Gorge Road for approximately 4 miles. Look for the large wooden park sign on Mission Gorge Road. Turn left onto Father Junipero Serra Trail. Park along the road prior to the gates, or in the dirt parking lots next to the visitors center. The climbers loop trails are on the right side about 0.4 miles down Father Junipero Serra Trail as marked by kiosks.

11 Comments

This is my favorite place to climb in San Diego and the only sane option within the county for hot summer months due to the northwest orientation. Show up early and head home when the mid-day sun hits.

Mission Gorge has a high concentration of quality climbs. I can't think of another cragging location in San Diego where you can knock off so many routes in a day. My personal record is 24, each of us leading half the routes. For real though, 10 routes from gate opening at 8am to lunchtime is standard operating procedure.
Dec 16, 2009

SDG&E is trying to build a Power Plant next to Sycamore canyon (Santee boulders), and Mission Trails Park. They have filled plans to build it and are moving forward. 11 100 ft smoke stacks spewing death down on to our favorite climbs. Please get informed and get involved.

Went to the gorge to climb today (07/16/2014) and the climbers loop trail is closed because of the recent fire that burned through mission trails. I did not see when they were planning to lift the restriction but for now, nobody is allowed through. Although we did see some people climbing/hiking anyway.
Jul 16, 2014

Went to the gorge on 08/16/14 and only the main wall was open. Limbo area and Middle earth were both closed because of the fires. Everything was super crowded because of this. Get there early on weekends if you don't want to have to wait in line for routes.
Aug 18, 2014

Hey, my girlfriend and I visited the area on December 7 of this year and accidentally left behind a number 5 BD cam in the crack at the bottom of the owl (5.8). If anyone has climbed this climb since then and come across this cam I would be forever indebted to you if I could get it back. Thanks. James (508) 868 5671.
Dec 30, 2016

Many hikers have been scrambling to areas lately that are supposedly only open to technical climbers so the caretakers have been more vigilant to keep people on trail. My partner and I were scrambling down around a route in order to avoid leaving gear behind and got megaphoned to return to the trail. You will not get in any trouble for scrambling down but consider finding nearby bolts to rap down from in order to lighten their workload (and annoying megaphone announcements.)
Jan 18, 2017